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At a recent gathering of friends and acquaintances I found myself embarrassed by a biased remark I made about an ethnic group. Considering myself a Democrat with a capital D, I fumbled to recover from what came out as a prejudiced commentary on Italians. Fortunately, a savvy friend piped in to censor and salvage the conversation. What would you have done?

–Anonymous, Providence

Biases abound.

We all wander off our moral compass at times; stereotyping is not limited to those who are biased. In social conversation it is harder to backtrack and say, “Well there are Italians and there are Italians, the way there are Greeks and there are Greeks.” Because you’re still being prejudiced against good and bad examples of a specific social order or race.

Even David Bowie, the forward-looking songwriter who wrote about being an outsider — a misfit, an alien, an explorer of human impulses that could not be qualified made seemingly pro-fascist statements that he promptly renounced.

Ditch over-analyzing or dwelling on a past faux pas; rather focus on the present and what can be done in a proactive manner to redeem yourself. Try to keep from making hurtful remarks in the future. Bias is a habit worth breaking.

~Didi

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